P/.Mv 
N.  A:,;EfT, 


To  THE  Congress 

OF 


The  United  States. 


A 

PETITION  AND  PROTEST 

Against 

SECTARIAN  APPROPRIATIONS  FOR  INDIAN  EDUCA- 
TION, AND  ESPECIALLY  AGAINST  THE  IN- 
CREASE OF  SUCH  APPROPRIA  TIONS. 


THE  NATIONAL  LEAGUE 

FOR  THE 


Protection  of  American  institutions. 


JANUARY,  1891. 


ROOMS  43  AND  44, 

MORSE  BUILDING.  140  NASSAU  STREET 
NEW  YORK  CITY. 


PETITION  AND  PROTEST. 


A respectful  perusal  is  requested. 

The  objects  for  which  the  Association  which  we  represent 
exists, are  thus  stated  in  Article  II  of  the  Constitution: 

“The  objects  of  the  League  are  to  secure  constitutional 
and  legislative  safeguards  for  the  protection  of  the  common- 
school  system  and  other  American  institutions,  and  to  pro- 
mote public  instruction  in  harmony  with  such  institutions, 
and  to  prevent  all  sectarian  or  denominational  aj)}>ropria- 
tions  of  pul.)lic  funds.” 

We  are  seeking  to  promote  the  passage  of  the  following 
amendment  to  the  Unite<l  States  Con.Aitution,  to  be  known 
as  the  XVI  Amendment : 

“ No  State  shall  ]>ass  any  law  respecting  an  establishment 
of  religion,  or  pi’ohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof,  or  use  its 
property  or  credit,  or  any  money  raised  by  taxation,  or  au- 
thorize either  to  be  used,  for  the  purpose  of  founding,  main- 
taining or  ai<ling,  by  approj)riation,  payment  for  services, 
expenses,  or  otherwise,  any  church,  religious  denomination 
or  religious  .society,  or  any  iii-stitution,  society,  or  undertaking 
which  is  wholly,  or  in  part,  under  sectarian  or  ecclesiastical 
control.” 

We  also  seek  the  amendment  of  the  constitutions  of  the 
various  State.s,  in  conformity  with  the  fundamental  principle 
that  in  this  country  the  functions  of  the  Church  and  the 
State  are,  and  should  be  kept,  distinct  and  separate.  We 
believe  that  it  was  unque.stionably  the  intention  of  the 
founders  of  the  Republic  to  secure  tbe  free  and  untram- 
meled development  of  religious  belief,  without  hindrance 
from  State  control  or  help  from  State  jjatronage.  The  first 
amendment  to  the  United  States  Con.stitution,  which  was 
})roj)osed  by  Congress  to  the  Legislatures  of  the  various 
States  September  25,  1789,  and  which  was  ratified  Septem- 
ber, 1789  to  1791,  contains  the  following  provision  : 


“Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment 
of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof.” 

The  object  of  this  Amendment  was,  to  exclude  from  the 
consideration  of  Congress  any  projtosed  law  “ respecting  an 
establishment  of  religion.”  Ivach  Chui'cli  was  to  be  left 
free  to  work  out  its  own  destiny  without  Governmental  in- 
terference or  aid.  On  various  pleas,  however,  this  principle 
has  been  departed  from,  in  both  National  and  State  Legis- 
latures, by  grants  of  })ublic  money  which  was  collected 
from  the  whole  people,  for  aiding  charitable  or  educational 
institutions  which  are  under  .sectarian  control.  The  princi- 
ple being  virtually  allowed  that  if  one  denomination  re- 
ceived such  aid,  another  might  claim  and  receive  the  same, 
the  amount  bestowed  in  each  case  depending  not  only  on 
the  facilities  of  each  denomination  fordoing  such  work,  but 
also  on  the  aggres.siveness  and  political  influence  of  the 
petitioners.  The  growth  of  this  evil  custom,  so  diametri- 
cally opposed  to  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  Consti- 
tution, and  so  threatening  to  the  peace  of  tlie  community 
by  introducing  questions  of  denominational  preference  into 
our  civil  legislation,  is  illustrated  b}'  the  following  table, 
which  shows  the  amounts  appropriated  to  various  religious 
bodies  for  the  support  of  Indian  schools  during  the  fiscal 
years  from  1886  to  1801  : 


1886. 


Roman  Catholic $118,343 

Presbyterian 32,99.6 

Congregational 16,121 

Martinsburgh,  Pa 5,400 

Alaska  Training  School 

Episcopal 


Friends 

Mennonite 

Middletown,  Cal 

Unitarian 

Lutheran,  Wittenberg,  Wis. 

Methodist 

Miss  Howard 

Appropriation  for  Lincoln 
Institution. 

Appropriation  for  Hampton 
Institute. 


1,960 


33,400 

20,040 


Total $228,259 


1887. 


$194,635 
.37,910 
26  696 
10,410 
4,175 
1,890 
27,845 
3,340 
1,523 
1,350 


1888. 


$221,169 

36.500 

26,080 

7.500 
4,175 
3,690 

14,460 

2.500 
Dropped 

5,400 

1,350 


33,400  ! 33,400 

20,040  ! 20,040 


$363,214  $376,264 


1889. 


$.347,672 

41,825 

29,310 

Dropped 


18,700 

23.383 

3,125 


5,400 

4,050 

2,725 

275 

33,400 

21,040 


$530,905 


1890. 


$356,957 

47,650 

28,459 


24,876 

23,883 

4,375 


5,400 

7,560 

9,940 

600 

33.400 

20,040 


$562,640 


1891. 


$363.  .349 
44.8.50 
27.271 


29.910 

24,743 

4,375 


5,400 

9,180 

6.700 

1,000 

33,400 

20,040 


$560,218 


4 


The.  following  table  shows  the  average  attendance  on  these  Jndian  Schools  under 
Sectarian  Control  for  1800,  and  the  number  of  pupils  allowed  for  in  the  grants 
of  1891. 


1890. 

1891. 

3.01.S 

3,353 

212 

295 

;s2o 

440 

217 

247 

62 

65 

77 

85 

Mpnnonitft 

29 

35 

TTnitririn.n . 

45 

50 



257 

240 



4,232 

4,810 

It  will  be  seen  that  considerably  more  than  one-balf  of 
the  amount  appropriated  by  Congress  to  denominational 
schools  among  the  Indians  is  given  to  the  schools  under  the 
care  of  one  denomination,  and  this  a denomination  which 
has  never  claimed  to  repre.sent  over  one-sixth  of  the  popu- 
lation. 

Last  year  in  spite  of  jirotests  three  new  Roman  Catholic 
schools  were  specially  appropriated  for  in  addition  to  the 
already  liberal  estimates  of  the  Department,  and  it  is  claimed 
to  he  true  that  although  these  added  schools  were  not  this 
year  found  in  the  Indian  Ikireau  estimates  they  are  expected 
to  he  granted.  It  is  also  understood  that  Congrc.ss  will  he 
asked  to  add  still  other  sectarian  .schools  to  the  list  of  tho.se 
receiving  special  api)ropriations. 

We  make  our  earnest  prote.st  against  this  misappro])riation 
of  public  funds. 

We  protest  against  the  legalized  friction  with  the  present 
rational  and  American  theory  of  the  Indian  Bureau  for  com- 
mon-school and  industrial  education  among  the  Indians 
with  a view  of  pre[>aring  them  for  self-supporting  citizenship, 
caused  by  appropriations  for  sectarian  instruction,  which  in 
many  notable  in.stances  has  kept  the  tribes  among  wliom  it 
has  prevailed  helpless  dependents. 

We  submit  that  it  is  undignified  for  a great  nation  to 
farm  out  its  work  among  its  wards  to  the  sects,  instead  of 
doing  its  own  work  in  a broad  and  liberal-minded  manner. 


5 


Many  of  tlie  Indians  have  been  made  to  believe  by  some 
of  tboir  religious  teacliers  that  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment is  their  enemy,  and  added  to  tliis  baleful  instruction  is 
their  inherited  belief  that  they  have  been  wronged  by  the 
nation.  How  better  can  the  Government  dissij>ate  this  wrong 
conception,  and  prove  to  the  Indians  that  tlie  Government 
authorities  and  tlie  American  jieople  are  their  friends,  than 
b}’’  making  large  and  uniform  jirovision  for  their  education, 
moral,  intellectual,  and  industrial,  instead  of  establishing  as 
man}’’  grades  of  treatment  as  there  are  sects  sharing  in  Gov- 
ernmental appropriations  ? 

Wo  believe  that  such  grants  are  all  uncon.stitutional,  and 
are  utterly  subversive  of  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  First 
Amendment  already  quoted.  The  National  Government, 
violating  as  we  believe  it  does,  its  own  Constitution  by  these 
sectarian  grants,  casts  its  influence  in  favor  of  denomina- 
tional schools,  and  imperils  thereby  the  integrity  of  the 
whole  common-school  system  of  the  various  States. 

We  protest  against  this  use  of  public  funds  for  the  suiiport 
of  sectarian  instruction  because  it  is  a menace  to  the  Amer- 
ican public  school  system. 

A division  of  the  public  school  moneys  among  the  various 
.sects  means  the  destruction  of  our  public  .schools,  and  this 
consummated  means  the  overthrow  of  our  civil  institutions. 
The  foundation  of  Republican  government  is  the  intelligence 
of  its  citizenship. 

If  the  general  government  divides  among  the  sects  its 
common  school  funds,  what  hope  is  there  tliat  the  integrity 
of  the  school  fund  in  the  States  shall  be  kept  inviolate  and 
indivi.sible? 

In  this  country  denominational  advantages  .should  be 
gained  and  triumphs  should  be  won  by  moral  suasion,  not 
by  legislative  influence,  or  by  an  appeal  to  political 
majorities. 

The  National  League  is  rapidly  extending  its  work  by  the 
formation  of  auxiliary  leagues  in  different  States,  and  the 
conviction  is  rapidly  spreading  that  distinctivelj'^  American 
institutions  need  protection,  and  that  the  status  of  the 

6 


American  common  free  school,  as  one  of  the  chief  supj)orts 
of  our  free  institutions,  must  ])e  speedily  entrenched  by 
national  and  State  constitutional  and  legislative  safeguards, 
or  it  will  gradually  but  surely  be  crushed  by  sectarian  en- 
croachments. These  truths  are  alarming  to  the  thoughtful 
citizen,  and  only  can  be  })ut  aside  by  thoughtless  political 
and  temporizing  expediency. 

It  is  high  time  for  a revival  of  Americanism  that  includes 
all  who  believe  in  our  institutions,  whether  they  be  of  native 
or  foreign  birth.  We  believe  the  time  is  at  hand. 

OFFICERS. 

.John  Jay,  President. 

W'm.  II.  Parsons,  l.'^t  \’ice- President. 

James  M.  King,  General  Secretary. 

Wm.  Fellowes  Morgan,  Treasurer. 


Law  Coiniuittec. 

Wm.  Allen  Butler.  Cephas  Brainerd, 

Dorman  B.  Eaton,  Henry  E.  Howland, 

Stephen  A.  Walker. 


Hoard  of  ^lanascrs. 


John  Jay, 

James  M.  King, 
Churchill  H.  Cutting, 
James  M.  Montgomery, 
Wm.  Fellowes  Morgan, 
John  1).  Slayback, 
James  McKeen, 

Wm.  II.  Parsons, 
Warner  Van  Xonlen, 
M.  A.  Kursheedt, 


Peter  A.  Welch, 
George  S.  Baker, 

F.  P.  Ih'llamy, 

George  D.  IMackay, 
Peter  Donald, 

James  McGee, 
Alexander  E.  Orr, 
Chas.  E.  AVhitehead, 
H.  II.  Boyesen, 

A.  J.  I).  Wedermeyei' 


A<ldeil  Names. 

Of  the  thousands  of  prominent  citizens  in  ditferent  }>arts 
of  the  country,  co-operating  with  us,  and  who  are  o[)posed 
to  all  sectarian  appropriations  made  either  by  the  General 
Government  or  by  the  States,  and  who  have  recorded  their 
names  with  The  National  League,  and  have  ex[)ressed 
their  desire  for  the  passage  of  the  i>roposed  XVI  Amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  we  append 
one  hundred  representative  names. 


Charles  Kendall  Adams, 
Edward  G.  Andrews, 

D.  F.  Appleton, 


William  H.  Arnoux, 
Darius  Baker, 
Cornelius  N.  Bliss, 


7 


George  Bliss, 

Jabez  A.  Bostwiek, 
Edwin  Booth, 

James  M.  Buckley, 
Charles  Butler, 

II.  K.  Carroll, 

Franklin  Carter, 
Charles  F.  Chandlei’, 
John  Clallin, 

Charles  L.  Colhy, 

James  B.  Colgate, 
A\hishington  E.  Connor, 
James  M.  Constable, 
Austin  Corbin, 

A.  Cleveland  Coxe, 
Howard  Crosby, 

George  William  Curtis, 
J.  L.  M.  Curiy, 

Charles  P.  Daly, 

Noah  Davis, 

William  E.  Dodge, 
Daniel  Dorchester, 

C.  I).  Drake, 

Andrew  S.  Draj)er, 
Sherman  Evarts, 

Cyrus  W.  Field, 

Henry  AVise  Garnett, 
Gustav  Gottheil, 
Frederick  D.  Grant, 
Alatthew  Hale, 

Chas.  Cuthhert  Hall, 
John  Hall, 

Tennis  S.  Ilamlin, 

AVm.  T.  Harris, 
Rutherford  B.  Hayes, 
Abram  S.  Hewitt, 
Henrv  Hitchcock, 

E.  N.^Horsford, 
AAA^’land  Hoyt, 

Richard  AI.  Hunt, 
AVilliam  Jay, 

Alorris  K.  Jesuj), 
Thornton  A.  Jenkins, 
Horatio  King, 

Joseph  F.  Knapp, 

A.  J.  Kynett, 

Charles  Lanier, 


Ahiel  A’.  Low, 

Charles  Lyman, 

C.  C.  McCabe, 

John  J.  McCook, 

R.  S.  AlacArthur, 
AVillard  F.  Mallalieu, 
Henry  G.  Marquand, 
F.  DeSola  Mendes, 
Ezra  P.  Mills, 

J.  Pierpont  Alorgan, 
Fred’k  Law  Olmsted, 
John  E.  Parsons, 

John  F.  Plummer, 
Henry  C.  Potter, 
Horace  Porter, 

E.  A.  Quintard, 

John  Harsen  Rhoades, 
John  D.  Rockefeller, 

D.  B.  St.  John  Roosa, 
Russell  Sage, 

Jacob  H.  Schiff, 

J.  Edward  Simmons, 
Chas.  Stewart  Smith, 
Charles  Scribner, 
Philip  Schaff, 

Homer  B.  Sprague, 

J.  Noble  Stearns, 
Edmund  C.  Stedman, 
Richard  S.  Storrs, 

J.  S.  T.  Stranahan, 
AATlliam  Strong, 

Josiah  Strong, 

Ellwood  E.  Thorne, 
Charles  L.  Tiffany, 
Chas.  Edward  Tracy, 

F rederick  T ownsen d , 
Jonathan  Trumbull, 
Cornelius  A'anderhilt, 
Henry  A'illard, 

John  H.  A'incent, 
Francis  A.  AA'alker, 
Francis  AA'ayland, 

H.  L.  AVayland, 
Alexander  S.  AVehh, 
Herbert  AVelsh, 

S.  V.  AVhite, 

E.  AA^hittlesey. 


8 


